ENG: This entry in the archive doesn’t have a description yet. If you want to add some info about the beta / cancelled stuff that you see in these images, just write a comment or send us an email! We’ll add your info in this page and your name in the contributors list. Thanks a lot for your help! :)
ITA: Questa pagina dell’archivio non ha ancora una descrizione. Se vuoi aggiungere delle informazioni riguardo le differenze della beta o la descrizione di un gioco cancellato, lasciaci un commento o mandaci una email! Inseriremo le tue informazioni nella pagina ed il tuo nome nella lista dei collaboratori. Grazie per il tuo aiuto! :)
Code: Veronica was one of the first third-party games announced for the Sega Dreamcast by the end of 1998. The game was originally scheduled for a late 1999 release following the Dreamcast launch, but was delayed and eventually released at the beginning of 2000.
While Production Studio 4 was in charge of the game’s artistic direction, the actual development of the game was handled by Nextech Corporation (a subsidiary of Sega at the time), the same company that ported the original Resident Evil to the Sega Saturn. Although, the game was originally marketed as a Dreamcast exclusive during its initial release, the game was ported to the PlayStation 2 and GameCube later, in the form of the updated version Code: Veronica X. [Infos from Wikipedia]
While the game was in development, Capcom released various screenshots from early versions of the project, in which we can see some differences in Claire’s clothes (changed 2 times before the final ones), enemies (a different looking spider, monsters placed in different areas), camera angles (different fixed visuals) and backgrounds (different items and details).
K Project was a testbed for the game that would eventually become REZ. The developers United Game Artists came from the now defunct Team Andromeda, which produced the Panzer Dragoon games, and it was from this pedigree that K Project would draw its basic gameplay style of an on-rails shooter. Playing the game consists of guiding a cursor around the screen and locking on to enemies (up so several at once) by holding down a button and releasing it to deliver attacks. However whereas both the Panzer Dragoon series and K Project are both on-rails, K Project lacks certain abilities found in those games; namely being able to change your view at will and branching paths.
Heavily influenced by the works of surrealist painter Wassily Kadinsky, K Project’s unique visual style was an attempt by the developers to invoke synesthesia; or seeing sound. In order to achieve this the only soundtrack in the game consisted of a looping beat playing in the background, and the sounds made by the player as he shoots items and enemies. Nearly all of the music in each level is of the techno or trance variety. Indeed those two genres are so ingrained in the games design philosophy that the final title of the game was said to be inspired by an Underworld song of the same name.
Originally the team had concepts of the playable “character” being in a big chair with crazy woofer speakers and a much more hip hop soundtrack. Then REZ went through a very organic phase, undersea microscopic creatures and stuff, which kind of survived the transition into the current form (as in the final level).
The final version contains tracks that were not in the beta, all of them custom made for the game as opposed to original artist made tracks in the beta. Also visually the finished game has a greater emphasis on a wireframe aesthetic and several different avatars.
Thanks to Jake we found that there was a file in the beta, called 0GDTEX.PVR it had the K-Project CD cover design on it, it was purple and had some purple airplane thing with a human rider and said KPRJ, whereas the same file in the final was green and purple, had a butterfly on it and said Rez.
Also, Jake extracted every single texture from REZ and the beta, finding some more differences. It seems that at some point REZ was going to have a difficulty display on the area select menu. A list of the music artists that were originally meant to be used in the game was also found:
N—-World was Underworld, their music was implemented in the beta, but was never allowed into the final.
Richard.D.James (Aphex Twin)’s music could not be used, and was not implemented.
Ken Ishii’s music was not implemented yet.
The Chemical Brothers are the same as Aphex Twin.
Adam Freeland is the same in the final.
While there were some ideas to make the game a bit deeper, using 2 or 3 buttons, Mizuguchi insisted it stay very minimal so everyone could enjoy it. Thats also why they included the trance mode, where you basically cant die so even people who suck at games can enjoy the game.
From the REZ promo video it’s possible to notice various differences:
Beta target reticules. A square (seen in the work in progress video #3), and a circle. Text is displayed at the bottom of the screen, and only for the Password protector and items. Area2 uses the beta boss area. Area4 doesn’t have the ‘dot’ texture implemented yet. Beta area1 enemy. Different coloured ‘fish’ enemies in the area3 boss. The player seems to have different colours for different levels. I don’t ever remember a bright green version of the player in Area3, or a white one in Area4.
In the “test” files from the beta, Jake also found the original “bigger enemy” from stage 1, that it was later changed towards the end of the game because the art director decided he didnt like it, and made the final “bigger enemy” with the one big fin hanging down. The beta enemy had bright blue tentacles and waved all over the place. Some more old moldes from the early protos are hidden in the code too: it took a while to nail down the aesthetic and how to approach everything visually in REZ. Those “squares enemies” all transformed into different shapes in time with the music, and the other two are prototypes of undersea microscopic life, that were almost decided on before the team found the tron-like aesthetic they ended up going with.
More interesting beta elements where noticed by Chris while trying debug menus the leaked Rez beta on his dreamcast.
I’m going to call the debug features “modes” for the moment because I dont know the proper terms. Setup: DC controller in port A, Keyboard (hello kitty jp board) in port B, DC mouse in port C Emulation has issues if you want to access Mode 2 debug. Keyboard has disabled keys if hooked up to a PC (see images).
Mode 1 debug -Nothing overly noteworthy other than accessing the normal debug tools (on the final as well tcrf covered this well) -Hitting the key circled in black brings up a nice quick select menu (this has been covered but the actual key is of note) -Hitting the key circled in red toggles the Mode 1 debug console input
Mode 2 debug -Accessed by hitting S2 on the keyboard (circled in blue) -Allows a whole new set of tools I haven’t seen anywhere so far (See images and video if needed) -F1-F6 all have a tool set with it -Mouse is usable -Right clicking allows the options of “debug menu” “user menu” “font size” (small medium large) and “exit” (boot to DC home menu and “main loop”)
-Stages -Stage 06 – boss rush (bosses are different in how you attack them, as well as how you piece back the white character in the end – see video ive attached) -Sound test binary missing (no surprise. SNDTEST.BIN) -Stage 06 final segment (rebuilding the character) contains FMV copied directly from the Digital Film Library (cannot find the source itself)
The second video below was also recorded by Chris, it shows off Stage 06 and contains some removed models and mechanics.
Armada was a sci-fi shooter released for the Dreamcast, that allowed 1-4 players to fly about the universe, fighting the enemy, performing missions and improving their ship. The player would gather credits to buy power-ups for their ship, allowing them to voyage deeper into enemy territory, blow up ever more powerful Armada, and perform missions of increasing importance and danger.
A sequel, Armada 2: Exodus, was under development, originally for the Dreamcast, then for the Xbox, Gamecube and possibly the PS2. However, due to repeated delays and redesigns along with limited resources, the game was canceled after spending over 4 years in varying degrees of development. [Infos from Wikipedia]
1/4 RPG (also know as One Fourth RPG) is a cancelled Action RPG that was in development by FromSoftware for the Playstation 2 (with a rumored Dreamcast version) in 2000. The game was shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2000, as you can see from the video below, but it soon vanished from their release list. As we can read on the (now dead) GIA Website:
The peculiar name is derived from the make-up of the party of heroes. Four different characters (selected from a pool of seven or eight) comprise the team at one time, but you actually play as a fairy guiding the four characters into battle. In a system akin to Valkyrie Profile, each “fourth” of the party (i.e., one character) can be selected via a different controller button, then moved into place with the d-pad. Attacks apparently are used automatically; your goal is just to keep the four heroes in the right place at the right time. Up to twelve enemies can appear on screen at once, so expect some large battles.
According to a report from IGN, 1/4 RPG was placed on “indefinite hold” in 2001 and From Software moved their resources to other projects. The game was never released.
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